softwateronly

In such a litigious country I can't imagine risking everything for avoiding >$300/yr. in liability coverage. No offense to any lawyers...well some. scott

New to the lake we have a place on in Michiana.... Nesting bald eagles and Ospreys dive bombing for juvenile carp/panfish. So far, the Osprey has found most of my favorite feeding flats, in the end I'm sure I'm gonna learn more from him than the other way around. scott then there's this normal occurrence....

Not an engineer but maybe something like this would help... https://ultrahydrophobiccoating.com/super-hydrophobic-coating-textile-leathers/ because that rat looks beautiful. scott

You hanging weights off yours or using lead tape? Stock, I get 2-3' down on the steady retrieve at most, but all my bites come on very erratic start/stop retrieve which keeps it much closer to the surface. scott

Never seen such a perfect looking hairjig. Congrats! scott

I think you have your solution, but throwing this out there. I'm throwing a 3/4-1oz scrounger head with a 7" jerky j on the 7'7" expride H. It's near the limit for sure but fishes great. With the bait moving and braid, I prefer the mod/fast action. Also the backbone isn't far behind, I've driven a couple into bony Northern mouths. It also excels at magnum soft plastics, large open hook swimbaits, and heavy swimjigs for me. scott

I've had three neighbors die of it. Everyone else was asymptomatic minus 2. Count me as one getting a vaccine and wearing a mask when indoors. It's not that hard. scott

I agree and disagree at the same time....

When the fish is airborne, i try to use the rod and reel to determine which way she goes back in the water. I don't want to wait for gravity to take hold. But, also smallmouth...got to love em scott

Bummer, because that's an easy fix. I tend to like softer rods with braid to leader because I feel like I lose less fish, braid helps with the hookset and the softer action helps the rod stay loaded throughout the whole fight. If your technique is solid maybe your gear doesn't suit the way you fish? scott

Bowing to the fish might be part of the problem as well. If I understand correctly, leaning forward at the waist, you could unintentionally be giving slack at the worst possible moment. And as PhishLI said, pointing the rod at the fish will immediately unload the rod and give enough slack to get tossed. If either of these are happening, do your best to eliminate them on your next battle and hopefully your results will improve. scott

Dude, Perfect! Does confirm how light that keitech finesse feels too. I was super skeptical of that jig and hook till a couple weeks ago when I started sticking em. It always seems to find the roof of the mouth. Only missed a few, and those were operator error, really. Now if the rocks would stop eating them... you swing through Chicago, that beer's on me. scott

Even if those girls end up just following, at least I'm positive I know where they live. scott

I hope everyone feels free not to buy it or use, because it doesn't work. scott

That'd be amazing, but don't put yourself out, I'm probably a week or two from ordering the rod. These harbor seawalls drop straight into 12-25 fow with some current, and finding the rock transitions seem to find me the fish, hence the heavier weights.

I do agree with you. There are times I split my gear up between my place in the city and the lake house. This could help. Also, most of my jigs are run on a 7'6" MH expride, 734 and the 735 Dobyns Champion, this would allow a different assortment rigged up at one time because I junk fish swimbaits and jigs in almost all of my location choices. I also only keep a jerkbait tied on a few weeks in the Spring and Fall, maybe this rod would change that. The 1/2oz keitech with a zman trd craw is a smallie smasher in the harbors. It fishes really light to me but has the tungsten contact to read the bottom. I know not ideal, but seems doable and probably even likeable? I've been running braid to shock leader or mono. One of the reasons I like braid because I can dial in the stretch with the leader and length, so to speak. Thank you all for your responses and insights, much appreciated. scott

Saturday I got 4 smallies, the best was 4lb, in the 31st harbor, all females. My memory is seeing bed fish in the harbors as early as the first week in May. scott

I have a hole in my rod selection, I don't really have a jerkbait rod. I don't throw them that often so I'm interested in a high end rod (to me) that can pull multiple duties. 3/8 and 1/2 oz keitech finesse jigs - real small trailers, not much additional weight 1/4 and 3/8 T rigged worms of all kinds 3-4.5" underspins or Texsposed swimbaits jerkbaits spooks This is probably an accurate order of what baits will be tied on most frequently. I have and love Dobyns Champion, Megabass P5 Destroyer, and Exprides. I keep finding myself reaching for the Exprides though. Any other suggestions are welcome, but I'm really looking for a "very sensitive" bottom contact rod that can pull double duty on a jerkbait at less than 7'3" in length. scott

Large soft swimbaits or glides over deep breaks. Jigs or Trigs tracing that break as well. scott

Neko rig, Tokyo rig, Jika rig? It'll keep the line tie elevated a touch to keep the slime off. also drop shot... scott

Most of my swinghead fishing is done in a grassy lake so this might not apply, but I like speeding up my reeling on the mushy feeling. It seems that the feel will change telling me it's a fish not a weed and then I'm half way home to the side sweep hookset, just be ready for it and commit. scott

Got some smalls...a 4lb and a 3.6 thanks to friendly fishing neighbor's scale

It's been super effective for me this spring................................at catching pike. Three of them have completely exploded out of the water crushing it, heart stopping but wrong species. So far, 7 northerns and 2 bass. I still have the bait and it still floats, so I guess I can say it's well made. scott

The cold snap has slowed down my fish as well. Riding a 7" Scottsborough swimbait on a jig head worked real slow over the break from 12' to 18' (the line between visible bottom and not) gave me a 17ish lb bag yesterday. Best day since the cold came back. All the fish came after the sun broke through the cloud cover. This time of year I have better success upsizing instead of downsizing, could be luck or it could be something... scott

Agreed, the reel stopping head shakes are the only giveaway I know of.